Recipe Shmecipe

If you've ever eaten at my house or asked for the recipe to something I've brought to a potluck, you probably know this: I don't really believe in recipes. For better or worse ;)

I follow the recipe for baked goods and things I've never made before, but other than that, I pretty much improvise. I blame my Italian dad. The first thing he taught me how to make was french toast. I remember him saying "Splash milk in there until it looks like this..." "Dad, how much milk is that?" " Oh I don't know, just put enough in there with the eggs until it looks like this. Same with the cinnamon and nutmeg." You can see where I'm going.

I also learned how to make homemade spaghetti sauce. I have never used a recipe for spaghetti in my life despite making it a million times, and I probably never will :) My great grandma ALWAYS had a pot of tomato sauce on the stove when I was little. You know, in case of a hunger emergency.

"Are you hungry, Katie?"
"No, gramma."
"I'll get you some spaghetti/bake you cookies/make you a sandwich..."

I love starting with a pile of veggies, spices, and other ingredients and ending up with a delicious meal.
Beyond the fun of cooking, making and sharing food is a huge comfort for me. My family is a little chaotic, but even as it grew, my parents always insisted we eat dinner as a family. I was being an angsty teenager holed up in my room because my parents/friends/the entire world hated me? I still had to come sit with the family for dinner haha. I am SO thankful for that, though. I never left the table feeling worse or even as bad as before dinner :) I plan to do the same thing with our kids.

Food for me is a sign of love and affection, from eating mom's home-cooked meals with my family every night to learning my dad's grandma's spaghetti sauce "recipe." Family gatherings center around eating a HUGE spread...last weekend we went up to my Grandma and Papa's house to eat a "spaghetti dinner." I put "spaghetti dinner" in quotes because when we got there, he'd also made two chickens, two egg souffles, and a pile of fancy Italian sausages in addition to all the stuff that goes on the side like bread and salad. Let's just say no one goes hungry if they eat with my family haha.

When we go camping, if you ask where my dad is, the answer is usually "Making breakfast/lunch/dinner!" Here are some awesome "vintage" pictures teehee.

Here he is with the Thanksgiving turkey about 15 years ago :)

I would like to say that my mom does the majority of the cooking - she makes dinner every night for my gaggle of sisters - but there is not as much photographic evidence. She generally tries to avoid cameras. Observe this picture from Thanksgiving 1997:

Teeheehee. Now that I'm probably abandoned by my mother because I put this picture on my blog, I leave you with one last food story.

I remember almost getting into a car accident when I was 17. It was terrifying and involved me spinning around on I-5 until I was facing the wrong direction. I called my dad, crying, to tell him what happened before I calmed down enough to drive home. When I pulled up, he greeted me at the front door with my favorite tea and a big hug. He then asked, of course, if I was hungry :)